Dems choose Charlotte for 2012 convention

The Democratic National Committee today announced the selection of Charlotte, NC, as the site of the party's 2012 convention, a clear sign that Democrats will once again target the Tar Heel State in the upcoming presidential contest.

It will be the first presidential-nominating convention to ever take place in North Carolina.
Barack Obama narrowly won the state in 2008, 50%-49% (or 2,142,651 votes to John McCain's 2,128,474) -- the first time a Democrat carried the state in a presidential contest since 1976.

By selecting Charlotte -- which beat out St. Louis, MO; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; and Cleveland, OH -- Obama and his political advisers will try to repeat their success in 2008, when they used the convention as an organizing tool to win the state in the general election. (In 2008, Denver hosted the Democratic convention, and Obama went on the win Colorado, 54%-45%, the first time a Dem presidential nominee had carried it since 1992.)

Does anybody really think where a party convention is held has any influence on an election? Oh, boy, the Republicans are coming to my town. Clinches my vote! The 2004 Democratic convention pretty much made downtown Boston an armed no-go zone for local residents for four days. If anything, conventions piss off voters where they're held.

Does anybody really think where a party convention is held has any influence on an election? Oh, boy, the Republicans are coming to my town. Clinches my vote! The 2004 Democratic convention pretty much made downtown Boston an armed no-go zone for local residents for four days. If anything, conventions piss off voters where they're held.

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I imagine it can't hurt. Colorado went blue for the first time in a while in 2008. Wonder if Nate Silver or someone of his ilk has ever taken on this question.

Does anybody really think where a party convention is held has any influence on an election? Oh, boy, the Republicans are coming to my town. Clinches my vote! The 2004 Democratic convention pretty much made downtown Boston an armed no-go zone for local residents for four days. If anything, conventions piss off voters where they're held.

Click to expand...

I imagine it can't hurt. Colorado went blue for the first time in a while in 2008. Wonder if Nate Silver or someone of his ilk has ever taken on this question.